3.3 Speculations (Part 1)

So just a couple days back I brought you some juicy Quel'Delar Speculations (because we all know the blog wasn't actually about the PTR coming up). Well, I was talking to Corgan yesterday, and apparently he is really good at digging interesting stuff out of the game files and other DBs. So we just kind of sat there, he was throwing links at me, I was reading as quickly as possible, and then there were some promises and implications that my immediate descendants would suffer an... interesting fate, if I failed to post all that in a blog.

So here it is. The blog is going to be really spoiler heavy. I am only going to cover Quel'Delar in this part (exploring other interesting quest chains, and some interesting spells too in the later issues), so if you are fine with that - go ahead. If not... I just wrote a very long blog for you not to read :P

Quel'Delar

Since I talked a little about Quel'Delar in the last blog, it is probably appropriate to expand on the information with new stuff. To recap - there are spells to re-forge, temper, and cleanse Quel'Delar. There is a spell that implies that the sword has consciousness of some sort and it wants to be taken to the Halls of Reflection, which is where the private chambers of the Lich King lie - and where the Frostmourne's pedestal is. And there is a powerful spell linked to Quel'Delar - it does some 2 million Shadow damage.

Now - the new stuff. Quests. I think we have the right order of the quests in the chain, but even if that is not the case, some info > no info. Here we go:

Quel'Delar's ChainDisclaimer: I am going to post only the Horde descriptions of the quests (frankly, because I play Horde. The Alliance ones are almost identical, with occasional change in the NPC names and the flavor text - you can check the links and read them yourselves.

This battered old sword hilt has seen better days. Before the hilt was snapped from the blade, it must've been a magnificent example of the blacksmith's art.

The graceful symbols and exotic gemstones decorating the hilt suggest that the weapon may have belonged to a powerful person. Surely, the Sunreavers would be interested in hearing about the recovery of such an artifact.

There's no mistaking it - this hilt comes from a powerful, ancient weapon, but which one? I do not recognize these particular markings, but we haven't hit a dead end yet.

Korialstrasz, better known as Krasus, has long been a friend to the quel'dorei and the Kirin Tor. With his vast knowledge and resources, he's certain to know something. Travel to the top of Wyrmrest Temple and seek his counsel, then report to Magister Hathorel inside Sunreaver's Sanctuary in Dalaran.

Progress:

Speak to Krasus at the top of Wyrmrest Temple, then report your findings to Magister Hathorel at Sunreaver's Sanctuary in Dalaran.

One of my contacts in the Underbelly caught sight of a Silver Covenant agent gathering information at the Cantrips and Crows Tavern. Silver Covenant members aren't normally found in the sewers, so they must be plotting something.

Go into the Underbelly, find this Silver Covenant agent, and eliminate him. Search the body for any information that might give us a lead on the location of that tome from Wyrmrest. We can't let those simpering Silver Covenant weaklings get it back to Icecrown before we do.

Progress:

Bring the Silver Covenant Orders to Magister Hathorel at Sunreaver's Sanctuary in Dalaran.

Getting you inside the Silver Enclave will be tougher than it appears. Only those who possess Silver Covenant tabards are permitted entry to sanctuary. If we can get ahold of one, a simple enchantment will do the rest of the work.

On the balcony above Threads of Fate, you'll find Shandy Sparkleshine. I've helped him a few times in the past, so he owes me a favor. He handles laundry for a wide variety of people in the city. Maybe he can find a way to 'lend' you a tabard for a while.

Progress:

Obtain a Borrowed Tabard from Shandy Sparkleshine and bring it to Magister Hathorel at Sunreaver's Sanctuary in Dalaran.

I've placed an enchantment on the tabard that should allow you to slip past the Silver Enclave's defenses for a short period of time. You should have enough time to find your way into A Hero's Welcome and meet up with the Silver Covenant's man there, known as Arcanist Tybalin.

While disguised, obtain the copy of Ancient Dragonforged Blades that his men borrowed from Wyrmrest, and return the book to me.

We must get this book to Myralion Sunblade. Would you bring it to him? I cannot rely on anyone else to transport the book and you have proven adept at evading the Silver Covenant's men.

Take it with you to Quel'Delar's Rest, south of the Argent Tournament Grounds in Icecrown. Myralion will be waiting for you. If he can identify that blade, we may be able to claim it in the name of Aethas Sunreaver and show Dalaran and the Alliance that we will lead the charge against the Lich King.

We cannot allow Quel'Delar to remain broken and disgraced. Take the remnants of the sword, along with the battered hilt you discovered, and venture into the Pit of Saron within Icecrown Citadel.

In the pit, the Lich King uses slaves to mine, process, and transform saronite ore. This infused saronite is what we will use to rebuild Quel'Delar.

You must gather bars of infused saronite and capture the forgemaster's hammer, then bring them to the forgemaster's anvil and re-forge the sword.

Progress:

Caladis Brightspear Myralion Sunblaze at Quel'Delar's Rest wants you to obtain 5 Infused Saronite Bars and use the Forgemaster's Hammer to combine them with the Battered Hilt to create the Re-forged Quel'Delar.

At last, the pieces of Quel'Delar are rejoined and the blade is whole, but it cannot see battle until you have tempered it. That jagged saronite edge is brittle and will shatter the moment it strikes anything.

Deep in Icecrown Citadel's Forge of Souls is a place where the blade can safely be tempered. Take Quel'Delar with you to the abode of the Overseer of Souls and look for the crucible. Plunge the blade into the crucible to temper it and bring it back to me.

Progress:

Myralion Sunblaze at Quel'Delar's Rest wants you to temper the Re-forged Quel'Delar in the Crucible of Souls.

You have re-forged and tempered the sword, yet it sits quietly in its sheath, little different from a mundane blade. You say the sword pulls you, as though it possesses a will?

Dare you bring it where it wishes to go? It is not right that the sword should be this silent and this insistent, yet I fear that if you do not take the sword to its destination, we will never learn why. Bear it with you to the Halls of Reflection, but be on your guard and prepare to tell me all of what you learn there.

Progress:

Bring Quel'Delar to Sword's Rest inside the Halls of Reflection. Return to Myralion Sunblaze at Quel'Delar's rest after you have completed your journey.

Take Quel'Delar to the Sunwell as quickly as possible, <name>. Trust in Uther's words when he says that you will not always be able to control the blade while it is subject to the evil of the Lich King's influence. You must travel to the Isle of Quel'Danas, and there, seek entry to the Sunwell itself, where you can cleanse the sword.

The guardians will try to stop you from entering the Sunwell Plateau, but make yourself known to Halduron Brightwing, who will be inspecting the guards there.

Progress:

Speak with Halduron Brightwing at the entrance to the Sunwell Plateau on the Isle of Quel'Danas.

You are the one working with Myralion Sunblaze, arent you? I know of a way we can test the sword.

If you know the blade's history, you recall that it was borne by Thalorien Dawnseeker in defense of the Sunwell against the Scourge. He fell in what is now the Dead Scar, buying time for his men to make their own preparations. You will find his remains near the southern end of the Dead Scar on this isle. Visit them, and if his spirit gives you its blessing, I will allow you to enter the Sunwell.

Progress:

Visit Thalorienn Dawnseeker's Remains and obtain his blessing to wield Quel'Delar, then return to Halduron Brightwing near the entrance to the Sunwell.

I admit, I was skeptical that you had actually re-forged Quel'Delar and I did not expect Thalorien's spirit to reveal itself to you. You cannot understand what it means to my people that Quel'Delar has been recovered.

As promised, I will admit you to the Sunwell and you will find the leaders of Silvermoon within. Carry the sword to the chamber of the Sunwell and immerse it. It may be best to entrust the weapon to the Argent Crusade, where it will serve as a symbol to unite the Lich King's enemies.

Progress:

Immerse your Tainted Quel'Delar in the Sunwell, then bring the Restored Quel'Delar to Justicar Mariel Trueheart at the Argent Tournament Grounds.

Now, let's try to make sense of all this!

First we acquire the Battered Hilt (of Quel'Delar). Quests later on suggest that the sword is tainted/corrupted, so it is likely that we will find the Hilt in possession of some vile monster, or at least in proximity of one. No idea where though ... A boss drop, looted from an object on the ground, combined through fragments (similarly to Val'anyr) - anything.

Anyway, we have the hilt. We decide to bring it to either the Sunreavers or the Silver Covenant, 'cause they are smarter than we are. They decide to... make us do some work for them, soon after sending us to Krasus who tells us something (possible that the blade is dragonforged, but he doesn't know which one it is?) and sends us back to Dalaran? Maybe there will be another quest chain here, or a conversation with Krasus... but now we are back in Dalaran, and we are tasked to infiltrate the other elven faction and obtain an Ancient Dragonforged Blades tome. Presumably that is where we are able to identify that the sword is in fact Quel'Delar.

So now we go back to Icecrown, find the guy who sent us to Krasus in the first place, and he tells us that we need to re-forge and temper the blade. We do that, reaping through 2 of the new 5-mans, doubtless while killing a lot of the Lich King's minions... and we are done. The blade is re-forged and tempered, and it apparently has some proto-mind of its own - it is pulling us towards the Halls of Reflection (the 3rd wing). I don't know how much our characters know about that place, but it is a hidden section of the Icecrown Citadel that has the Lich King's private chambers in it. And the Frostmourne pedestal. There is a quest that suggests that we find Frostmourne, while the Lich King is not there... we touch the sword, reveal some secret (see a vision? Maybe talk to some of the souls imprisoned, e.g. Terenas?), then the Lich King finds us, and we really run for it.

Anyway, we go to the Halls of Reflection - I am not sure how far inside - and we go back. Then we are sent off to the Sunwell to purify Quel'Delar. Somewhere on the way we see the spirit of this Thalorien Dawnseeker, who was the original owner of the sword we now hang around with. Apparently he is not mad at us for taking his sword, and lets us go to the Sunwell, where I suspect we enter a phased event, or are teleported to the actual Sunwell - I don't think we'll be asked to form a raid and go through the entire place. It doesn't sound Loregical (lore, logical, c wat i did thur?). We do that, and we achieve happy ending! We bring the sword back to the nice quest givers, maybe get some reward (but not the sword itself, I think), and it's over.

---

Sooo... what do you think about the Quel'Delar chain? Do you find my speculations plausible, and if so - do you have something to add? If you don't think I did a good job speculating (because I rarely do that), feel free to propose an alternative explanation - I am really excited about hearing alternatives!

Comments

Comment by ANOMALOCARIS

on 2009-10-03T14:26:18-05:00

So, I was thinking, what if you DO recieve the sword at the end of the quest chain. Kind of a ripoff to all the classes who can't use swords.

There should be a requirement for this chain, like "Exalted with Sunreavers/Silver Covenant, Exalted with Argent Crusade".As in you only want to show the blade to someone you share absolute trust with.

Comment by Aldun

on 2009-10-03T14:33:14-05:00

Wondering.. Is it known what kind fo wep it will be? As in, caster, dps, hunter?

Comment by Liquoid

Comment by Random0008

on 2009-10-03T14:36:41-05:00

So, I was thinking, what if you DO recieve the sword at the end of the quest chain. Kind of a ripoff to all the classes who can't use swords.

There should be a requirement for this chain, like "Exalted with Sunreavers/Silver Covenant, Exalted with Argent Crusade".As in you only want to show the blade to someone you share absolute trust with.

Did you miss the "some 2 million shadow damage" part?

Comment by caboosefanatic

on 2009-10-03T14:37:23-05:00

I wanna guess it will be another great weapon like the Shadowmourne, but thats just my guess anyway :P

Comment by goreblade

on 2009-10-03T14:42:28-05:00

ah damn i wanted first. i think your about right mate. would be kinda cool if we got to fire off that shadow spell on the lich king though. blast him out of his boots=)

Comment by Syrda

on 2009-10-03T14:56:36-05:00

What confuses me is that there are apparently two different quest chains per faction - one for the Argent Tournament guys and one for Sunreavers/Silver Covenant.

This and the last sentence in the last quest log you got in your post got me thinking. Though it's probably only wishful thinking...

Could it be that we are to choose whether we keep the sword or hand it over to the Argent Crusade?

And if so - could it be that this choice has further impact on the fight against Arthas or even his loot ...?

Comment by Vampirioth

on 2009-10-03T15:24:18-05:00

didn't the really important ashbringer break in a quest confronting the lich king (in icecrown?)

and with the whole "It may be best to entrust the weapon to the Argent Crusade" it might end up as a replacement for the ashbringer, when taking down the lich king (maybe you have to complete the questchain to get into the icecrown citadel raid? just an idea...

Comment by Nibbly

on 2009-10-03T15:25:33-05:00

I'm guessing it's the mechanism by which you actually get to kill Lich King, since he's so uber possibly it's not intended you just 'dps' him but also use this in some way like a harpoon in UP.

Comment by mudfish

on 2009-10-03T15:31:38-05:00

Wondering.. Is it known what kind fo wep it will be? As in, caster, dps, hunter?

Hunter wep.

Comment by chase123

on 2009-10-03T15:45:27-05:00

Everything is Hunter gear silly.

Comment by ZachUSAman

on 2009-10-03T19:51:39-05:00

And there is a powerful spell linked to Quel'Delar - it does some 2 million Shadow damage.

Comment by Kristopher

on 2009-10-03T20:30:03-05:00

Not to be a spelling nazi, but isn't it spelled Frostmourne? ;) Otherwise, I don't know too much about lore, but this seems interesting. Very, very interesting. Can't wait to see what comes out of this.

Comment by ArgentSun

on 2009-10-03T20:51:22-05:00

Probably is... I kind of felt like Frostmourn doesn't sound right.

Comment by Katalliaan

on 2009-10-03T21:10:35-05:00

At the last quest - "It may be best to entrust the weapon to the Argent Crusade..."

Since when has "what may be best" actually mean will be best? We all remember what happened when we entrusted someone else with KT's phylactery, right?

Comment by blademeld

Comment by Nathiest

on 2009-10-04T23:09:07-05:00

I hope that's not the final model cus that looks like #$%^. It should look like Frostmourne only in a diffrent color. That said I'm sure at the end of the quest you'll probably get to pick from four weapon types Sword, Axe, Mace and Staff.

Comment by ArgentSun

on 2009-10-04T23:52:04-05:00

Frostmourne is a demon-forged blade. Quel'Delar is an elven one...

Comment by lostguide

on 2009-10-05T12:34:05-05:00

Not sure if anyone said this- you get THIS sword instead of Frostmourne.Calling it!